Archive for the ‘Natural History’ Category

I have worked from home for nearly 6 years now and have discovered many new aspects to the wildlife of my garden and the surrounding area. Even after this time, there are still new things to discover as I found last week when I noticed a small dark butterfly. Investigating it turned out to be a female Common Blue, a species that until now I had not recorded in the garden or the surrounding area. I didn’t have the camera with me but this is a picture of the species.

This is one area that is on ‘my want to visit’ list. I have read some great reports of what can be seen. Seems to me like one of those great places that many birders have never heard of.

A late afternoon walk along the River Weaver.There wasn’t a great deal on the water today except for a couple of Common Sandpiper along the river bank. There were 5 Black-tailed Godwit, 6 Redshank, c200 Lapwing out on the exposed sand bank. A surprise was a Ruddy Shelduck which was seen to leave the river and head […]

The Jay is a colourful member of the Crow family, yet it can be one of the most difficult to see. It is a shy bird of woodland and often all that is seen is the striking white rump as it crosses openings in the trees. It is resident across much of the UK, though absent in parts of the north of Scotland and west of Ireland and it is estimated that there are about 170,000 breeding pairs in this country.

It is best known for its habit of caching acorns in the autumn, which it will then retrieve during the winter months.

During my IT downtime recently Keith and I visited the London Wetland Centre and I was fortunate enough to get these shots of a Water Vole hiding in the undergrowth. The Water Vole is an elusive and secretive mammal and this is only the second one I have ever seen.

Last week whilst I was doing the weekly survey I came across a moth resting in amongst the flowers in the garden. Now I confess I don’t know a lot about Moths but thanks to the help of a facebook group it was soon identified as a Silver Y Moth (Autographa Gamma). A common Moth it is named after the y-shaped mark on its wing.

During the recent trip to Norfolk, Keitha and I experienced a day with 60 mph winds and driving rain. We avoided the coast that day, but the following morning we went down to the front and although the winds had dropped the sea was still rough.

It is always great to find out about new places where you haven’t been before. We have spent a number of holidays in SW Wales though not for some years now, but I have never been to Caldy Island. Finding such places is a lovely surprise as we had on the way back from Weymouth earlier this year when quite by chance we found Blashford Lakes in Hampshire which turned out to be an absolutely fantastic wildlife spot.

Caldey Island isn’t the first place you’d think about when looking for nature-watching sites in Pembrokeshire, but it does have some advantages over the other islands. First, it is easy to get to, with boats every half hour or so from Tenby Harbour, starting around 10am, every day except Sunday. Second, if you are not […]